


One More Chance

by Katria_Faeyero



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Carnival, Dancing, F/M, Forgiveness, Masks, Pining Draco Malfoy, Romance, Second Chances, Secret Identity, Venezia | Venice, Waltzing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-13 10:47:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28527219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katria_Faeyero/pseuds/Katria_Faeyero
Summary: "All around him, the Venetian carnival raged with laughter and music. Muggles and wizards alike danced and drank and enjoyed the anonymity of the carnival, lustful and enchanted by a magic as old as time.A sea of masked faces- paper, porcelain and leather masks, adorned with feathers in vivid colours- separated him from her but he paid all those masked imbeciles no mind. He only had eyes for her. He was looking only at her and the sea of twirling bodies around him was fading from his vision as the minutes passed."
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy
Comments: 7
Kudos: 40





	One More Chance

**Author's Note:**

> Happy New Year everyone! I hope 2021 treats us better than 2020 did. I hope you all accomplice your dreams and aspirations and to be happy! My resolution for 2021 was to write more, or practice writing more. And though I know I'm not an accompliced writer, I really love writing down new ideas all the time. 
> 
> This particular idea came to me just the other day and I couldn't stop writing until I was finished. I'm thinking of continuing this but I'm not yet sure. It might remain a one-shot or it might lead to multiple chapters. We shall see. 
> 
> For the time being, I hope you enjoy this idea that I had of a masquerade and a night in Venice for my (and yours) favourite couple.
> 
> A warning before you start reading: I’m not an English native speaker but I always try my best to be as fluent as possible.

_She was a goddess._ Effortlessly gorgeous and beautiful in the most intoxicating way.

That was all he could think as his eyes feasted upon her from across the piazza. All around them, the Venetian carnival raged with laughter and music. Muggles and wizards alike danced and drank and enjoyed the anonymity of the carnival, lustful and enchanted by a magic as old as time.

A sea of masked faces- paper and porcelain and masks in vivid colors, adorned with feathers- separated him from her but he paid all those imbeciles no mind. He only had eyes for her. He was looking only at her and the sea of twirling bodies around him was fading from his vision as the minutes passed.

She was dressed in a gown of the deepest emerald. How very Slytherin of him to gloat in the fact she was wearing his house colors? The emerald gown was trimmed in silver tulle. The velvet bodice lovingly molded her curves and narrowed to a point at her slender waist. The full skirt flared at her hips and ended just before it reached the floor. The sleeves of the dress dropped off tanned shoulders, and her dark honey brown curls were left loose to coil alluringly around her face and over her back.

She wore a simple silver Columbina mask that covered her eyes and curved up into winged points at her forehead. It was enough to hide her identity from those unsuspecting of her true self. But those lips, the tiny brown freckles, the big doe eyes, the color of whiskey... A dead giveaway for someone who had spent years studying her from afar.

She was alone, he noted. No scarhead saviors. No redhead suitors. No idiotic and suicidal friends depending on her intelligence to survive through another school year or a war. She was alone. He briefly wondered why.

He had watched a parade of eager young men ask her to dance, only to be sent away with a firm shake of her head. Dance after dance and she remained alone by the edge of the piazza. She was making polite conversation with those around her, people he didn't recognize, but not once did she take the hand of any gentleman who wished to lead her to a dance. Pity that she wasn't in the center of the dancefloor, admired by everyone as she should be. But he secretly boasted in the fact that she wasn't in any other man's embrace.

This could be his chance. His only and maybe last chance.

He wanted her in his arms desperately, as he had wanted her during their fourth year and as he had desired her during their eighth. He knew though that to approach her now was a fool's errand. Besides why would she even consider his offer of a dance? She had no reason to. He had never given her a reason to.

But he could not resist. Not this time and certainly not here.

Purposeful strides moved him effortlessly through the waves of boisterous revelers until he was but a few feet away. Her perfume filled his senses until he thought himself drunk on her sweetness. For a few seconds he got lost in the familiarity of her perfume. Wild memories flooded his mind at once and he allowed the essence of his Amortenia to cloud his mind.

_6th year_

_Cinnamon, old books, roses_

_Her_

At first, she did not seem to notice his presence beside her, but then an almost invisible force shivered upon the uncovered skin of her shoulders and her eyes fluttered beneath her mask.

Drawing a breath, he finally spoke, his perfect Italian carrying just the faintest trace of a divergent accent. "Are you not dancing, Signorina?"

His smooth baritone voice fully captured her attention and she finally turned to look upon her admirer. Her golden gaze found his and the moment hung suspended between them as time itself seemed to alter and grow still.

Had she been able to look away from his hypnotic silver eyes, she would have seen that he was dressed all in black, from the tips of his boots to the bolero jacket and cape. An elaborate sword hung at his side; the belt buckle adorned with a silver snake. A black mask covered the upper half of his face, leaving only his full lower lip and strong jaw exposed. His hair was thankfully hidden underneath his fedora for he was certain that had she seen his hair, she would have hexed him right there and then.

His inviting mouth curved upward in amusement at her prolonged silence, and a blush colored her cheeks as she finally answered his question with a whispered, "No."

One leather clad hand extended toward her. "Will you do me the honor?"

Her only answer was to slowly place her delicate hand onto his.

* * *

He silently led her into the heart of the dancing couples before sweeping her into a graceful waltz. Their bodies flowed seamlessly together. He had always known that she would fit perfectly in his arms and he was right, so painfully right. It made their past seem all that worse. Two people, fitting so perfectly together and never being allowed to be together.

As he delicately led her around the dancefloor, she could not seem to look away from his smoldering grey eyes. The overwhelming sense of familiarity that descended upon her was inescapable but he could not tell whether she had recognized him or not. As he held her gaze, he could see the gears working in her mind.

They were already into their second waltz when she finally found her voice.

"Do I know you?" It didn't escape him of course that she spoke to him in her native English, though he had clearly spoken in Italian up until that point.

He smirked, a curl of his lips so mischievous and familiar but nowhere near the sneers he had sent her way in the past.

A second passed before he responded in his native English as well. "Perhaps yes, perhaps no. To tell you would spoil the pleasure of the masquerade. For tonight I am Hades. And you will be my Persephone…at least until the music ends."

Her steps faltered and she nearly stumbled over her own feet.

 _Hades_ , king of the underworld.

 _Persephone_ , goddess of spring and his queen.

_Underworld and world above._

_Dungeons and towers._

_Darkness and light._

_Evil and goodness_.

She had several remarks to make at once but the sensuous curve of his lips and the fiery glitter of his familiar eyes silenced her thoughts. Images swan in her vision until she was transported back in time to a distant past she had fought to forget.

_Marble cold floors._

_Screams and pain._

_Two grey eyes, forever transfixed upon her form, vacant of all emotion._

Those eyes had been occluding then but they certainly weren't occluding now as they gazed down at her with such intensity.

It was _him_.

Hardly daring to breath, she waited for her traitorous body to tremble with remembered anger. It was an entirely different emotion that fought its way to the surface, and a nervous laugh escaped her red lips.

His eyes narrowed slightly behind the black mask, "You are amused?"

She did not shy away from his dark intensity, but called upon the bravery her house valued above anything else. "I was only wondering if you plan to kidnap me and make me your bride."

It was his turn to falter. _As if he would ever lower himself to marry someone like her_ , she thought bitterly. He had probably dared approach her because this was a masquerade and no one would know. _Merlin forbid the Pureblood elite found out He was messing around with a mudblood._

His hesitation was brief though and in the blink of an eye his entire aura became as unreadable as the mask he wore. He was occluding as he spoke, "I would never presume. A beautiful woman, such as you are, must certainly be spoken for."

The venom in his tone was unmistakable. In the past she would have probably answered him with something equally filled with bitterness. Her temper would have not accepted such a display, especially since he had no right to feel that way. For some inexplicable reason, though, she found that tiny fraction of unmasked jealousy, endearing.

Her chin tilted up defiantly, "I am not."

"I find that difficult to believe."

She could feel the tension radiating from his powerful form, though the graceful slide of their dance continued uninterrupted. She searched his eyes as she confessed, "I was engaged once several years ago, but it was broken."

She felt the illusion he had wrapped around himself give way, and the wards around him fell, "Why?"

A wry smile curved her lips. "It was…a youthful infatuation actually. We were best friends for years and got closer as we found ourselves in the middle of an impossible and dangerous situation. Everyone expected us to be together and so we gave it a go. It seemed the right thing to do. But before long it became all too clear that our attachment could not sustain a lifetime. We were too different."

"I am…sorry." And he actually managed to sound sincere. He wasn't sorry though and she knew it.

"You shouldn't be. It was all for the best. He is with someone who truly loves him now, married and with a child on the way. And I..." She did not elaborate. It was safe to say though that she was over that ex of hers and she was currently alone.

_She was alone._

His silent contemplation of her admission unnerved her more than a little for she knew nothing of him.

British wizarding society hadn't heard of him in years and she was suddenly hit by an uncomfortable awareness that he was most likely married to a Pureblood heiress by now. A few years back, she had read that purebloods married young, through arranged marriage contracts to ensure their purity and sire an heir. She gulped awkwardly before speaking, "And you, sir? Are you spoken for?"

He laughed ruefully, "I am destined to remain al... a bachelor."

She was certain that he'd begun to say alone, and the thought of that made her throat tighten with sadness.

Her dark eyes danced with unspoken promises as she said, "I think not. I am certain there is at least one woman who will gladly claim you for her own. Perhaps you have met her already, and she is even now plotting how to lure you to her, ensnare you in her sweet trap so that you can never leave her."

He was taken aback for a moment, but recovered with an enigmatic smile. "I am a very difficult man to trap."

She grinned back in earnest. "Perhaps you only need the proper bait."

His good humor faded, and his smile turned sad around the edges. "Perhaps." He looked away, fixating on a spot just over her shoulder. "But I don't deserve it anyway. The bait of a beautiful woman, that is."

A long moment of silence followed before he continued, "I was a fool for years. A frightened, selfish child. A spoilt git who did not deserve anyone's respect or compassion. A bigoted and prejudiced little shit who always made all the wrong choices. I know now just what I lost because of said choices, and I regret them every moment of every day."

Her hand came up to his masked face, and ignoring his involuntary flinch, she forcefully drew his gaze back to hers. Such familiar eyes. Damn her compassionate heart and damn his raw sincerity. He was occluding again as he had done during his sixth year, during their torturous time in his house, during his trial, during their last day of eighth year.

"Stop occluding," she whispered and he almost didn't hear her, lost in his thoughts as he was.

They stood unmoving amidst the maelstrom. The music faded into silence around them, and neither could remain hidden behind the masks they still wore.

"Please look at me," she amended her previous request as he turned his eyes away from her once more. He should not shy away from her now. There was a reason he had approached her tonight and she was willingly in his arms, was she not?

His entire countenance betrayed his longing, and his eyes fell close as he whispered, "You have no idea what you're asking _Hermione_ …"

A soft smile transformed her features and her next words felt like a caress. "I thought I would never hear my name from your lips. Peculiar, isn't it? How we've known each other for years but not once called each other with our first names..." She took a deep breath before speaking again.

"Please, stop occluding and look at me. _Draco_..."

His name on her lips seemed to wake him from his placid dream. He pulled her closer in a burst of passion, and for one heart-stopping moment, Hermione was certain he meant to claim her right there.

His lips hovered scant inches from hers, so close she could nearly taste the crispy flavor of his kiss, but he failed to close that final distance between them. He had no right to do so.

Instead, he released her and stepped back, his expression once again blending coldly into his mask.

"Forgive me. I fear I have taken up far too much of your time."

He offered a stiff bow, and quickly spun away with a sweep of his cape to disappear into the crowd. Before he had a chance though, a hand firmly wrapped itself around his elbow and spun him around with unnatural force for someone so petite.

"Draco, wait!" Her eyes were pleading him to stay. "One more dance, please."

He stopped in his steps and turned his head just so to face her. "Why?"

"Why what? Why I want to dance with you?" He nodded and she smiled shyly, an adorable blush creeping up her lightly freckled cheeks. "May I remind you that you approached me first?"

"Your point?" He turned around to face her entirely and it took real effort on her part to lift her hand from where she was touching his arm.

"I think I deserve to know why you approached me tonight. Did you know who I was before? Or..."

"I knew." His sincerity shocked her momentarily.

"Then why...?" She trailed off as he felt his arm slipping around her waist again. They easily fell into rhythm with the couples twirling around them again. Waltzing with him was settling a foreign calmness deep in the pit of her stomach. She found she liked the feeling.

"Because this was my third chance to dance with you and I couldn't lose it. No matter what." He had complied to her earlier request and he was no longer occluding, though she found that his eyes were wild with emotions she couldn't read.

"Your third?" He was certain that under the Columbrina mask, she was raising a perfectly shaped dark eyebrow.

"The Yule Ball, of course, and our graduation ball at the end of eighth year."

"And why now? Why today? What changed?" Her voice was weak as her mind filled with images of those two events he mentioned.

She remembered his astonished expression as she had descended the stairs to the Great Hall during the Yule Ball. She remembered how he had been unable to tear his eyes from her as she had danced in the arms of Victor Krum. She remembered overhearing a conversation between Lavender and Parvati about how Draco Malfoy had ignored Pansy Parkinson, his date, all night, too transfixed to the witch in periwinkle.

She then remembered their graduation ball. How he had skillfully avoided her all year until that night in the Astronomy Tower, mere weeks before graduation. How her heart had been flying madly every time she so much as looked at him since that night. How he had asked to accompany her to the ball but she had refused because she had been dating Ron. How he had been looking at her longingly all night. How his gaze had turned murderous when Ron had kissed her. And how he had disappeared from her life after that final night at Hogwarts.

"I changed. I like to think that I'm no longer a coward." She scoffed. She actually had the audacity to mock his past cowardness in his face. But he dared not confront her for she had every right to despise him. It had been surprising when she had spoken at his trial. It had most peculiar when she had been kind to him during their eight year, allowing an easy sense of camaraderie to fall between them. A comfortable silence was better than uncomfortable conversations. It was beyond any reason though that she continued dancing in his arms, knowing who he was. What he had done.

"Then prove it." He stopped their beautiful waltzing and drew her even closer to him, if that was possible. It was the flowing emerald skirt of her dress that prevented their bodies from fully touching. "Take your third chance, as you so said, and use it wisely."

His hand, clad in leather black gloves, let go of her hand and rose to her cheek, gently caressing the soft skin. She lowered her head in embarrassment at the boldness and the suggestion of her sentence. He realized that and his hand lightly touched her jaw and lifted her head with the utmost gentleness to gaze upon her eyes.

"This is certainly unwise."

"Probably," she breathed, her heart beating madly and almost bursting out of her chest.

"You might come to regret it."

"I doubt it." She was bolder now, all the Gryffindor courage coming back as she finally recognized the wild emotions in his eyes.

"Your friends will throw a fit."

"Your family despises me. We are even."

"Granger I..."

"You said it yourself before. Forget about who we are or what we were in the past. Tonight, you are Hades and I am your lady Persephone. At least until the music ends."

Couples were still dancing around them drunkenly. Music was still playing madly. The carnival was in full swing but the couple in the middle of the dancefloor paid no mind to the rest of the world.

They could finally have their chance.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed the story!


End file.
